Carroll County government offices will close April 17 and reopen at 8 a.m. April 20.
Northern and Hoods Mill landfills will be open from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. April 17.
Information: 857-2973.
DATELINE: WESTMINSTER
AH: Recycling centers open
Recycling convenience centers have been opened at the Northern and Hoods Mill landfills.
The red recycling bins, which areseparated into sections, accept clear and colored glass, plastic, bimetal cans and newspaper. The bins are accessible during landfill hours from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays.
Information: 857-2633.
SEEDLINGS AVAILABLE
Carroll County residents may redeem coupons for seedlings received during the Christmas tree recycling program.
Pine seedlings will be available after tomorrow at Northern and Hoods Mill landfills, Piney Run Park and each town in the county. For information on tree distribution in the municipalities, call your town office.
Information: 857-2633.
SEWER PLAN APPROVED
The Carroll commissioners approved Thursday a revised water and sewer master plan for the county.
The commissioners' decision followed a public hearing last month in which several residents requested changes to the plan. One of those requesting changes was Lewis Hood, a Westminster-area resident, who wanted to have his property hooked to Westminster's sewer system.
The staff had recommended that his property not be hooked up to the sewer system. Hood appealed to the commissioners, who met with him last month.
Neither the county planning commission nor the city of Westminster endorsed his proposal.
"His request has been terminated from this biennial request,"said Bobbi Moser, a planner with the county's Department of Planning. "The city of Westminster has no plans to extend to his property. Itreally makes (his request) moot."
The revisions this year included a plan to place Pleasant Valley on the county's water and sewer system. The community is currently served by a private water company andindividual septic systems, Moser said.
Construction on the project could begin as early as next January and be completed by fall 1993.
The county revises the plan every two years.
RIDE PROGRAMS SOUGHT
The county staff plans to survey county workers about the possibility of beginning a ride-share program.
Under the federal Clean Air Act, employers with more than 100 workers will have to reduce the number of trips generated to the workplace, said K. Marlene Conaway, assistant director in the county Planning Department.
A ride-share program, she said, would be one way of reducing trips to the County Office Building.
In an unrelated matter, Conaway said federal moneymay be available to allow the county to hire an additional transportation planner.
PROJECTS ON AGENDA
SYKESVILLE -- The county recycling plan, cable television and updates on various town projects are among the items to be discussed at the Town Council meeting at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Town House, 7547 Main St.
The council is expected to approve an architect's proposal for a new police facility and introduce an ordinance for an auxiliary police force.
Also on the agenda is the proposed sale of a town property at Third Avenue and Spout Hill Road, an update on the small-town planning guidelines, Spout HillRoad problems, town infractions, and a budget amendment for the current fiscal year.
Parks and Recreation items include closing CooperDrive and the Jennifer Way tot lot.
Information: 795-6390.
DATELINE: SYKESVILLE
AH: District gets preliminary OK
WESTMINSTER -- The city's Planning and Zoning Commission gave its approval at its Thursday night meeting to a proposed ordinance to create a historic district in the city.
The ordinance will be forwarded to the City Council, which will make the final decision as to whether the historic district should be created.
By creating a historic district, which would encompass the downtown area of Westminster and some of the adjacent residential areas, the city would be adding another level of review for any construction or modification to existing buildings, said Dean Hamblin, who headed the study committee.
He said the commission determined that Westminster did not have any buildings of singularhistoric significance, but the ordinance was designed to preserve the collection of buildings.
Only the exteriors of buildings that can be seen from public streets would be affected by the ordinance.
In its current form, the ordinance curtails some of the power that other historic district commissions have. For example, the commission would be required to consider the economic impact of its decisions.
The zoning board agreed with the recommendation that at least three months should pass between the bill's potential approval by the City Council and its effective date.
At its meeting, the planning commission also reviewed the city's preliminary capital improvement budgetand considered modifications to developments it had previously approved.
DATELINE: WESTMINSTER
AH: Neglect cases on rise
Calls about neglected children in Carroll have increased nearly 53 percent in the first quarter of 1992 over the numbers reported for the same period last year, the director of the county's Department of Social Services said Thursday.
"We believe this is the prolonged effect of the recession," Alexander Jones told Commissioner Elmer C. Lippy during DSS staff time. "It shows in how some people deal with their kids."
Neglect can be anything from leaving a child unattended, a lack of food, housing or appropriate clothing, Jones said.
The department received 23 calls in January, 11 in February and 21 in March, comparedto 13, 11 and 12 calls over the same months last year.
Twenty-oneadditional calls over those three months this year were deemed invalid due to lack of information, Jones said.
In many cases, these are people who do not mean to abuse their children, Jones said. However, they don't have enough money to make ends meet.
EARLY DISMISSAL DENIED
Leaders of the class of 1993 will consider mobilizing their parents to lobby the Board of Education to let them be dismissed from school two weeks before the rest of the students.
"If we have our parents, who vote for these people, say they don't support the policy,maybe they'll listen," said Nikki Robitaille, a junior from South Carroll High School and daughter of Paul and Nancy Robitaille.
Traditionally, seniors in Carroll and most other counties in the state were dismissed about two weeks early. The board voted two months ago to make this the last year for such early dismissal.
Juniors at several high schools have petitioned the board to reconsider, but at its meeting Wednesday, the members held firm to their unanimous decision, saying it was for the students' benefit.
Each member prefaced his or her comments with a commendation on the organized way in which thestudents carried out their protest.
Juniors said this left most of them feeling a bit patronized.
"They didn't really listen, and they never gave us a good reason," said junior Danielle Anzalone of Liberty High School, daughter of Donna and Tom Anzalone of Eldersburg.
Board members and administrators said they felt it was time to follow the state law that students be in school 180 days, that it would provide an important time for assessment of the students' progress, and that it would eliminate teachers having to give out exams early for seniors, then later for underclassmen.
In other business, the board approved:
* A policy for ensuring the security of test resultsand content, as required by the state.
* A policy for administrators to use to decide what kinds of publications and advertising may be distributed in schools.
* Construction documents for the addition to Mechanicsville Elementary School.
* A deed of easement of 1.6acres near Francis Scott Key High School to county government for developing a public water system that will serve the school and a nearby subdivision.